Priebus on Immigration Ban: ‘Perhaps We Need to Take it Further’

Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” while discussing the details of President Donald Trump executive order halting access to the United States for immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said, “Perhaps we need to take it further.”

Priebus said, “Hang on a second, the order also says persecuted Muslims have priority as well. That is a piece that is just getting totally — however you want to call it, misreported or not fully reported. It doesn’t just say Christians it also says persecuted Muslims get priority as well. This is not a Muslim ban. All this is identifying seven countries. The reason we chose the seven countries, those were the seven countries that the Congress and Obama administration identified as the seven countries being the most identifiable with dangerous terrorism taking place in their country. You can point to other countries with similar problems like Pakistan and others. Perhaps we need to take it further. But for now, immediate steps, pulling the band-aid off is to do further vetting for people traveling in and out of the countries. This is an 80 percent issue.”